Chapter 2353: Deception and Octopus
"One hundred floors?" Xu Huo's tone rose slightly.
Reaching the corner of the corridor, the female player stopped and gestured with her chin toward the tightly closed doors ahead. "Those rooms might be empty, or they might have players inside. But at night, when everyone's in the mood for hunting, hiding in a room is relatively safe. The only problem is whether there's danger inside the room."
"Are the rooms only occupied by guests?" Xu Huo immediately caught her meaning. If the first floor was at the bottom of the food chain, then the guests staying here wouldn't be too strong. In the banquet hall, C-level players made up at most a third, and there were almost no A-level players. How dangerous could it really be?
"That should be the case," the female player said. "As for what else might be inside besides guests, I'm not too sure either. I've only heard rumors."
"Anyway, from what I've gathered, randomly opening doors and staying outside carry similar risks."
"In that case, what's the point of the lottery?" Xu Huo narrowed his eyes.
The female player was surprised by his sharpness and quickly said, "Because the person drawn can open a safe room—an empty one."
As she spoke, she walked to the first door and tried it. Turning the handle, the lock didn't budge.
"These are all active locks. Anyone can open them from the outside, except for the fish masks selected by that day's lottery. If someone is inside the room, the person chosen by the lottery can't open it."
"So the person chosen by the lottery has to find a safe room before other players hunt them down. Once inside, the chances of someone opening the door from outside are very low."
"Is there a high reward for killing the fish mask drawn by the lottery?" Xu Huo asked. If not, the probability of getting items from hunting others was the same, so why chase after the person drawn?
"No," the female player said helplessly. "That's just how it is. It's purely for the thrill."
She stared intently at Xu Huo, as if trying to see whether he believed her or not.
Xu Huo was silent for a moment before saying, "Then let's find a room quickly."
The three of them split up, searching corridor after corridor. Just as the female player had said, all the rooms on the first floor seemed to be occupied.
"Let's go to the second floor." The female player led the way.
The second floor had the same layout as the first. Xu Huo followed behind the Painting Woman, checking room after room, seemingly with no time to pay attention to the female player's side.
The three of them went all the way to the fourth floor without opening a single room. Just as the Painting Woman was getting a bit annoyed, another person wearing a mermaid mask suddenly rushed down the stairs. Seeing them, his eyes lit up, and he immediately ran toward them. Behind him, three players were in hot pursuit.
"Three mermaids!" One of them, wearing a piranha mask, excitedly released an item.
The item had no effect on the Painting Woman. Xu Huo barely managed to put up a defense, grabbed her, and ran toward the stairs on the other corridor. Seeing no way down, they headed up.
But as they reached the stairwell, the other two mermaid masks, including the female player who had been with them, unhesitatingly chose to flee downward. Two of the three pursuers, both wearing clownfish masks, didn't pause and chased after them. Only the piranha mask hesitated briefly before following Xu Huo and the Painting Woman.
Every floor had guest rooms, meaning each floor had at least one banquet hall, possibly more. But the lottery results seemed to be the same across several floors—or perhaps several floors shared one result. As soon as Xu Huo and the Painting Woman reached the fifth floor, they were blocked by two octopus players.
Seeing the octopus players, the piranha mask turned and left without a second's hesitation.
The two octopus players laughed. One of them teleported behind Xu Huo and the Painting Woman, blocking both ends of the corridor.
"Lucky us. This mermaid will keep us entertained all night." The two leered at the Painting Woman before finally turning their attention to Xu Huo. One of them waved him off dismissively. "If you don't want to die, get lost!"
"Is that so?" The materialized object hidden in the shadows on the floor suddenly shot up, aiming to slice off this person's arm, but it was blocked by a space barrier.
Enraged by the attack, the man clapped his hands together. Two invisible forces converged from both sides of the corridor, abruptly sandwiching Xu Huo and the Painting Woman in the middle.
The floor was covered with carpet, obscuring its original state, but the ceiling was covered in dense, fine scratches—clearly made by items. Yet they were only minor marks, showing that the building was not easily damaged, along with the floor and walls. If they were crushed, escape would be nearly impossible.
Xu Huo used a Water Cube Barrier to brace against the pressure. As the Painting Woman flew toward one of the enemies, he gripped the Black Blade in one hand and manipulated tangents with the other, trying to break the converging forces. But even when sliced through or pierced, the two walls of force didn't collapse completely—they held steady!
However, the closer they were to a solid, unchangeable form, the more obvious the weakness. He shoved a robot into the gap and charged straight at the other enemy!
These two were skilled fighters, but in the relatively narrow corridor, large items were hard to use. Xu Huo didn't use time powers. Instead, he switched to close-range defensive items and engaged them in melee combat with the Black Blade.
The Painting Woman's approach was much more straightforward and brutal. She had no items or instruments, only pre-folded paper animals, which she threw out like they were nothing—like setting off fireworks. Items usually had no effect on her, but defense barriers were still useful. Several times, she was knocked back by their barriers. And not all items were ineffective against her; she still had to dodge attack items imbued with space powers.
But her advantage was her lightness and speed, combined with her resistance to injury. So after one round of attacks, she bear-hugged one enemy's defense barrier, pierced it with her bare hands, and wrapped herself around the player from behind.
Just as he was about to grab her, she suddenly felt something odd. Before the player's item attack could land, she leaped back to create distance, then crooked her finger. An invitation card floated out from behind the player's clothes.
The octopus mask's expression changed, and he immediately blocked the corridor to prevent his invitation from flying away.
But Xu Huo, who had been fighting the other enemy, retreated to this side. He reached out, snatched the invitation, and stored it in his luggage compartment.
Guests invited by an invitation card had masks that were slightly different from the staff's. Staff members didn't have invitations, but their masks emitted a faint glow, and the masks would be destroyed upon death. The same should happen if the invitation was taken.
Although a player's mask changed according to the invitation's design, there were no obvious distinguishing marks on the surface.
However, after this player's invitation was taken, the mask pattern on his face became somewhat blurry.